“Hearing the sound of your breathing as you sleep,with the dog at your feet, his head restingon a shoe, and the clock’s tickinglike water dripping in a sink – I know that, even if reincarnation were a fact,given the inherent cruelty of the worldwhere beautiful things and peopleare blasted apart all the day long,I would never want to come back, knowingI could never be this lucky twice.”